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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. cold — an illness
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. pitch — completely
  5. branch — a division
  6. content — happy
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. fall — to drop
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. wound — an injury
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. cold — not warm
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. wound — an injury
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. content — the amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com